Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>]

Most grammarians are of the opinion that Hebrew prepositions have widely 
varying meanings. That opinion is convenient for exegetical translators. Is 
it, however, true?

I submit that the idea of fluctuating meaning of prepositions often comes 
from inaccurate translations.

Take, for example, bahar lanu. Preposition l, if anything, is directional, 
thus dative. In the translation, he chose us, the omitted preposition is, 
however, accusative.

The sense of bhr is, thrust in the direction. Directional preposition l 
perfectly fits that sense. There are derivative meanings, to cut through, 
divide, choose, and prefer. 
The phrase bahar lanu should be perhaps translated, he was attracted to us. 
Besides preserving the correct preposition, that translation better relates 
the dynamic sense of the Hebrew phrase.

Shall we discuss some cases of the ostensibly non-standard or rather 
non-etymological meaning of prepositions, and see whether such cases really 
depend on inaccurate translation?

Vadim Cherny
>From peter AT qaya.org  Sat Apr 15 05:57:42 2006
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Date: Sat, 15 Apr 2006 10:57:12 +0100
From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen 1:1-3 (was "Gen 1:2- And the earth . . .")
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On 15/04/2006 01:07, Harold R. Holmyard III wrote:
> ...
> HH: The real question with the traditional reading ("In the beginning
> God created the heavens and the earth") is the absence of a definite
> article with "in" followed by "beginning":  BR)$YT. ...

It is also worth noting that this definite article would be marked only
in the subtleties of vowel pointing, with qamets for the definite
version rather than sheva as found in the Masoretic text. But then the
LXX rendering EN ARCHi without the definite article points to an early
undertanding of R)$YT as indefinite, but not a construct as "created"
(actually rendered as just EPOIHSEN, "made") is a main verb, not
subordinate to EN ARCHi.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/